Where was Gaborik in the shootout??????
Jokinen are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!
What was Torts thinking???????????????

There is much to discuss here. Much more than Torts controversdial decision as to whether have Gaborik on the shootout. That is really more of anfter thought in the grand scheme of things. To start, while the final 8-9 games were certainly entertaining and brought out a unity in the team that was not evident that it not had before, one only has to go back to the Renney era to find that it took similar rallys just to get those teams into the playoffs. So this is not a unique occurance. What stands out from yesterday's gsame mroe than anything is the continued inability to score on a regular basis. When you have to rely on your 4th line to provide not only the expected energy a 5th line brings but also as your predominant scoring line, then you have problems. The heroses remained the same as did the villians. Lunquvist stood on his head and practically won the game by himself. The Ranger defense continues to be too small and too passive to out muscle teams like the Flyers or the Devils or the Capitals or the Penguins or anyone else for that matter on a regular basis. When the 'Sham GM/Pres.' has had players willing to do so like Paul Mara, Jason Strudwick or even going back to people like Purinton or other bigger defensemen who could move people away from the goal-keeper, Mr. Sather is all of his due brilliance has decided to let them seek employment in greener pastures without nary a concern in the world. And why should he? This latest rally of futility will probably give him a contract exetntion and a bouquet of flowers from the equally clueless Mr. Dolan.

I have said it before in this forum until I am blue in the face. This franchise will continue its steady, consistent slide into nothingness as long as you have two complete incompetents steering this ship. Sather has proven time and time again that he as much business running a national Hockey League franchise in this era as I do running the Pentagon. While certain players are certainly deserving of a pat on the back for a nice effort and at least showing that they actually care, it still remains unacceptable and would not be acceptable on clubs like the Devils, Penguins, Red Wings or Colorado who demand nothing short of the best and are in contention most every year. Sather is not in that league.

So, at the end of the day, after yet another failed season, this should have been expected. This is NOT the fault of the coach. How amny coaches can be faulted during the 12 year failed Sather experiment? This goes right to the top and trickles down. It's not even debatable.

This team is so poorly constructed that it didn't deserve to make the playoffs. There is so much to look back on this year and not be happy with that the slight improvement of some of the youngsters doesn't make much better. At least Dubi and Staal played well yesterday and I can keep telling myself not to be too upset as I get ready for another off-season of rearranging the deck chairs on th Titanic.

There is no plan in the front office. Watching Torts change up lines every other game and burying some players while many players were awful doesn't make me think that there is a plan behind the bench either. How many 3 on 2s and 4 on 2s do you need to give up while 3 forwards are behind the other team's goal line?

The team is a mess. The salary cap issues are horrendeous because you have Drury, Redden and Rosi who are not worth anything like they are being paid and they are going to be here for awhile. Some of the young forwards are ok, but they aren't anything near being top forwards in the league.

Yesterday may have been a high point for this team in that next year it is likely that this squad will not be close to making the playoffs.

"Re-arranging the deck chairs on teh Titanic". Brilliant!!!!

I think one thing that they can do (which they won't) is to give Redden the option of going to hartford (i.e.: Brashier) or just simply buying him out. While much can be said about the erratic play of Gilroy, I would have much rather have seen him in there nightly and not making the playoffs than redden trying to convince anyone that he is an NHL caliber player. That would free some money up. I have no desire to see Rosival back on the club next year and seeing him with an 'A' on his jersey made me realize all that is wrong with this team. I would not have anyone but Lunquvist wearing the 'C' next year.

However, all of this is moot so long as Sather remains allowed in Manhattan. Let alone ruining the Rangers.

One has to wonder if Sather hired Tortorella who's style and methods are a 180 from his own was more to give Sather a means of who to blame.
With Tortorella as the public face of the Rangers, Sather can claim that he gave Tortorella all the players he wanted (which Tortorella foolishly said he wanted) and that it is Tortorella's fault that the team failed.
Sather can point to how Renney made due with what he had and got 3 playoff appearances out of him before the disloyal and evil Ranger fans forced him to fire him.
Sather can also claim that this was the coach who Ranger fans wanted so they have nobody to blame but themselves.
The only thing Sather and Tortorella have in common is that they both are experts at blaming others and making sure that it is never their fault.
I feel for the beat media tomorrow when they have to talk with Tortorella as none of them really want to put up with his act so odds are that nobody will ask the tough questions

When Jodi Shelley is your best forward you know something is wrong...

http://www.classactsports.com/on-the-ice/bleeding-ranger-blue.html

steve k buyout of redden hits our cap for 8 YEARS. most yrs approx $ 2 mm per yr with yrs 3 and 4 approx $ 3.4 mm per yr. so NO THANKS. minors would be a far better option than a buyout

http://www.capgeek.com/buyout_calculator.php?Player=630&buyout_y=2010&buyout_m=06&buyout_d=15&Calculate=CALCULATE+BUYOUT

1) I feel for Lundqvist. I like the shootouts, but they should really consider changing the rule for an 82nd game where it is essentially a playoff game. That is not a professional way (NHL) to end a team's season. Let the team earn it, not three shooters.

2) The run they made actually hurt them as they now have the 10th pick in draft. Icing on a terrible stale cake of a year. Another year of torture. How many more years do we have to endure before change is made. I wasn't a fan of Renney as he had his faults as a coach, but he was a class act for a class organization, historically. Torts is an embarrassment for this team.

3) Should be another interesting off-season. The one thing they MUST do is send dReeden to the minors. He was an embarrassment yesterday (since signing, I know) and we have to cut our losses. For next year, we must shed salary and play the youth that we have. The one thing they SHOULD do is clean house with management, but I'm not holding my breath. This sucks.

Have a great summer my loyal Ranger fans. Let's hope for the best down the road.

Thanks LI Joe for letting me know the difference in demoting redden to the minors as opposed to the cap penalties they would face should they cut him loose. I wasn't aware of it. Then yes, as you say, send to the minors.

Interesting that Tampa Bay fires both it's GM and it's coach but fat boy Dolan can't seem to get his head out of the clouds long enough to actually make a business decision. Is it any wonder why all of these organizations are run well and see some meassure of success while the Rangers continue driving that same road to nowhere year in and year out?

Thanks LI Joe for letting me know the difference in demoting redden to the minors as opposed to the cap penalties they would face should they cut him loose. I wasn't aware of it. Then yes, as you say, send to the minors.

Interesting that Tampa Bay fires both it's GM and it's coach but fat boy Dolan can't seem to get his head out of the clouds long enough to actually make a business decision. Is it any wonder why all of these organizations are run well and see some meassure of success while the Rangers continue driving that same road to nowhere year in and year out?

Agreed....another year of disappointment on the "island of misfit hockey players". They should have tanked the season 4 weeks ago...this team had no chance. It is a team of interchangeable 3rd and 4th liners, an undersized defense and a dinosaur of a general manager. Now we are stuck with the number 10 pick when we could have been in the lottery....although I am sure Sather would have traded our high draft pick to the dallas stars for the rights to Mike Modano.

Keep the kids, that means Gilroy as well... We don't need any over the hill vets.. We have a bunch of talented kids coming soon... Get rid of Redden and Drury.. Chris is a great player but his big goals are long gone. He needs to be on a team that is a player away. LA sounds like a great landing spot. I am sure he'll waive his no trade to go there! He has a home there as well. No hard feelings Chris but give the C to Duby.... Let's play this right.... Drury,Prospal, Redden, Rosi, all must go! Mark St gets an A Ryan keeps his A and Duby becomes the Rangers new C!

One last thing Torts, You need to roll 4 lines.. Have some faith.... Oh yea and Sean Avery is a player no matter what you think. Just Fire this guy already!

Rocco - I would much rather see Cally get the C on his chest. He deserves it way more than Dubi and is a leader on the team. I don't know if Dru wants to leave yet, 1 more season of no playoffs and he'll waive it.

Sean - technically we are still in the lottery. All teams that miss the playoffs are in the lottery. The only perk to the nhl lottery is that you can improve your draft position 4 spots. So if they get lucky we can jump to the 6th spot. 2.1% chance of that happening

On the plus note I was looking at the Tsn top 10 prospects and we are slated to get a 6'4" d-man Derek Forbort. of course he is on the us development team. So chances of him being NHL ready this or next season are slim to none.

More likely to happen if sather is still allowed to draft someone is him taking a chance on the previous 10th rated prospect Kirill Kabanov who fell off the top ten. ISS has him ranked at 7 but I guess he had an off year to knock him down off the top 10 to tsn.

So draft Forbort and Beukeboom's kid. Bam! the back end will be gigantic and ready to clear the front of the net and hit people again!

rocco i hope you're kidding about dubi as the captain. he comes to play1 out of 3 times. he would not make my 1st hand any of 5 fingers as choice on captain although he would be on the 2nd hand,

he's not deserving of an A never mind the C. this dubi kool aid its too much.

Well LI Joe I am watching a player coming of age. Dubinski had 20 goals and missed a bunch of games... Faught Richards stands up for his mates and is a going to score 30 next season... Hey if not Dubi who Callahan? They both should be on the same line next season.... Looking forward to seeing theese players with the comers we have. We just have to stay the course. We need a big nasty dman.... That might be Mark Stl.

players i'd have as C before dubi who are currently on rangers team

drury
cally
staal
henrik - like luongo
prospal
gaborik
girardi and rozy would get A's before him

if they even gave dubi an A that would be all 3 letters as americans. have to spread the letters to canada and or europe guys.

re 20 goals cally did it last yr. drury did it 1st 2 yrs here and was deemed a failure. double standard? i think so!